Bob Abbott

-author of the first set of Privacy and Data Confidentiality policies for the Health Care area (1974)

-development of the first multi-user, multi-tasking operating system for Cray class supercomputers to go into 24X7 operational deployment.

-led a project that produced the first physiological monitoring system for patients recovering from open-heart surgery.

-advisor to the movie “Sneakers”, James Earl Jones character was named Bernard Abbott, many characters were modeled after members of Bob’s team.

Tribute at ACSA: https://www.acsac.org/acsa/memoriam/abbott.pdf

Bio at Paradigm Shift International: http://www.parshift.com/bios/BioAbbottBob.htm

Interview at computer-history.info (from Stories of the Development of Large Scale Scientific Computing at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) http://www.computer-history.info/Page1.dir/pages/Abbott.html

Abbott led the RISOS (Research Into Secure Operating Systems) study, 1971-1976, a study with the goal of "aiding… in understanding security issues in operating systems and to help determine the level of effort required to enhance their system security."  The study detail seven key challenges to security, challenges we still face:

1. Incomplete Parameter Validation

2. Inconsistent Parameter Validation

3. Implicit Sharing of Privilege/Confidential Data

4. Asynchronous Validation/Inadequate Serialization (Race conditions and time-of-check to time-of-use flaws)

5. Inadequate Identification/Authentication/Authorization

6. Violable Prohibition/Limit

7. Exploitable Logic Error

The complete "Security Analysis and Enhancements of Computer Operating Systems" report from the RISOS project is available from https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/IR/nbsir76-1041.pdf (74 page, 3.4mb PDF)